Approximately 2.7 million women diagnosed with breast cancer in U.S. between 1998-2011

Universe:

70 percent of all newly diagnosed cases of cancer in the US are diagnosed and treated at CoC-accredited cancer programs and reported to the NCDB. The NCDB, begun in 1989, contains case reports on over 29 million cancers diagnosed between 1985 and 2010.

Established in 1987, NAACCR, Inc. is a collaborative umbrella organization that develops and promotes uniform data standards for cancer registration; provides education and training; certifies population-based registries; aggregates and publishes data from central cancer registries; and promotes the use of cancer surveillance data and systems for cancer control and epidemiologic research, public health programs, and patient care to reduce the burden of cancer in North America. All central cancer registries in the United States and Canada are members.

State age-specific (crude) incident rates of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive breast cancer by age group (women only, age 65+). No data for Kansas or Vermont (data suppressed).

Aggregated data for other cancers are publically available.

Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program

Topic/focus:

Most cancers

Year(s):

1973-2010

Source:

National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Study and sample characteristics:

See summary below.

Universe:

The SEER research data include SEER incidence and population data associated by age, sex, race, year of diagnosis, and geographic areas (including SEER registry and county).

The current release includes data for cases diagnosed between 1973-2010, and is based on the November 2012 data submission from 18 SEER registries, who contribute cases from different years of diagnoses based on when they joined the SEER program.

SEER-Medicare: Breast Cancer

Topic/focus:

Breast Cancer

Year(s):

2005-2009

Source:

National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The SEER-Medicare data reflect the linkage of two large population-based sources of data that provide detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries with cancer. The data come from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of cancer registries that collect clinical, demographic and cause of death information for persons with cancer and the Medicare claims for covered health care services from the time of a person's Medicare eligibility until death.

Medicare claim files available are from 2000-2010, unless otherwise noted:

The SEER-Medicare data reflect the linkage of two large population-based sources of data that provide detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries with cancer. The data come from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of cancer registries that collect clinical, demographic and cause of death information for persons with cancer and the Medicare claims for covered health care services from the time of a person's Medicare eligibility until death.

The SEER-Medicare data reflect the linkage of two large population-based sources of data that provide detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries with cancer. The data come from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of cancer registries that collect clinical, demographic and cause of death information for persons with cancer and the Medicare claims for covered health care services from the time of a person's Medicare eligibility until death.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Provider of Service File

State tumor registries (CA, FL, IL, NY)

Study and sample characteristics:

3083 women (65+ years-old) who underwent incident breast cancer surgery in 2003 and were followed annually with telephone surveys through 2008 which collected sociodemographic, treatment and quality of life information. Patient information was linked to a variety of data sources (listed above). Driving distance to nearest hospital and high volume hospital have been calculated.

3,083 women (65+ years-old) treated in 2003 for incident breast cancer for whom extensive information has been collected via annual surveys and Medicare claims through 2008. Patients have been linked to their providers (hospital and surgeon) and provider-level information is available (AHA and AMA).

A collection of medical claims from the Medicare insurance program which has coverage for virtually all medical care (including Part D for pharmaceuticals 2006+) for those eligible and enrolled. Medicare provides detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries including eligibility/enrollment (as well as Medicaid), geographic location and mortality. Medicare claim files available (1999-2011): Inpatient SAF, Outpatient SAF, Carrier SAF and PDE.

Claims are unavailable for those enrolled in a Medicare HMO (conversely, HMO patients' Part D claims are available). For Part D patients, claims are unavailable for those enrolled in Creditable Coverage or Retiree Drug Subsidy.

A population-based large administrative databank of medical claims from the Medicare insurance program which has coverage for virtually all non-pharmaceutical medical care (prior to Part D in 2006+) for those eligible and enrolled (claims are unavailable for those enrolled in a Medicare HMO). Medicare provides detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries including eligibility/enrollment (as well as Medicaid), geographic location and mortality. Medicare claim files available from 1999-2003, unless otherwise noted: Inpatient SAF, Outpatient SAF, Carrier SAF, DME SAF (2003), HHA SAF (2003), Hospice SAF (2003) and SNF SAF (2003).

Conducted annually by the AHA since 1946, the AHA Annual Survey is one of the most comprehensive sources for individual hospital data available. Hospitals report data for a complete fiscal year. Contains data items on organizational structure, facilities, services, community orientation, utilization, financing, and personnel.

Established by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1906, the Physician Masterfile was initially developed as a record keeping device supporting membership and mailing activities. Since then, the Masterfile has expanded to include significant education, training and professional certification information on virtually all Doctors of Medicine (MD) and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) in the United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and certain Pacific Islands. The Physician Masterfile includes current and historical data for more than 1.4 million physicians, residents, and medical students in the United States. This figure includes approximately 411,000 graduates of foreign medical schools who reside in the United States and who have met the educational and credentialing requirements necessary for recognition.

Produced annually, the ARF is a county-level compilation of existing data from numerous sources including the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Health Care Financing Administration. The ARF is cumulative, with the completeness and frequency of data elements varying by source. The ARF contains data items on health professions, health professions training, health facilities, hospitalization utilization, hospital expenditures, population characteristics and economic data, and environment. Also available are geographic descriptors--such as Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes and Metropolitan Area (MA) codes--that allow for aggregation of county data into other geographic groupings.

RUCAs, Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes, are a newer Census tract-based classification scheme that utilizes the standard Bureau of Census Urbanized Area and Urban Cluster definitions in combination with work commuting information to characterize all of the nation's Census tracts regarding their rural and urban status and relationships. In addition, a ZIP Code RUCA approximation has been developed.

Census of Population and Housing data is derived from the 2000 decennial census. The decennial census was redesigned following the 2000 census. The Census Bureau also provides statistics from the American Community Survey and the Economic Census. Other resources include GIS mapping tools (e.g. shapefiles and spatial data) and interactive population and economic maps.